The iPad Pro
follows the general design principles of the iPad Air 2, but on a significantly
larger scale. Its general layout, material, edging and so on all match,
while the positioning of the buttons, the Lightning and headphone
ports and the Touch ID-equipped Home button are the same as on
the smaller iPad Air 2
"The iPad Pro
is so much bigger [than the Air 2] but doesn't feel unbalanced or awkward. I
could hold it easily, but - and I realise you'll make fun of me for
this, and that's OK - I sort of wished it had a kickstand like the
Surface Pro."
Aside from the increase
in screen area, there are some key design differences, each corresponding
to a functional difference.
One is that there
are four speakers, as opposed to the twin speakers on the iPad Air 2 (and those
positioned too close together to have any real beneficial effect). This results
in far more volume output, of course, and Apple says the device is also smart
enough to adjust audio balance between the four units to maintain a consistent
performance as you hold the iPad in different ways.
We didn't get a
chance to test this properly in the noisy demo room, so our verdict on whether
this is a neat gimmick that can compensate for a hand over a speaker
grill, or a more significant change to the way we experience media and games,
will have to wait.
There is a new type
of connector on the lefthand side of the iPad Pro. Apple calls it the Smart
Connector, and it's designed to fit the new Smart Keyboard accessory. We
don't yet know if third parties will produce their own accessories to
fit the Smart Connector, but we'd have thought it's distinctly
iPad Pro review: Screen
The iPad Pro comes
with a 12.9-inch display, compared to the 9.7-inch display on the iPad Air
and the 7.9-inch display on the iPad mini. That's 78 percent more screen space
than the next-largest iPad.
A diagonal
measurement of 12.9 inches makes for a device that is both sharply
differentiated from the smaller iPads and a convenient size in terms of
productivity and ease of use. The iPad Pro's screen is also
pleasingly sharp, with a massive screen resolution of 2732 x 2048, the
largest resolution ever seen on an iOS device. That's the same pixel density
- 264.68 pixels per inch (ppi) - as the iPad Air 2, stretched across a
much bigger screen.
With a total
of 5.6 million pixels on show, Apple boasted that the iPad Pro has more
pixels than the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. And it's supposed to be
power-efficient too, with the ability to adjust refresh rate as and when the
movement on the screen warrants it. "For the first time in any of our
devices," says Apple, "iPad Pro knows when the content on your screen
is static and cuts the refresh rate in half, to 30 times per second instead of
60. This means that the screen isn’t just big, beautiful and bright. It's also
incredibly energy efficient."
It sounds like the
screen is pleasingly responsive, too: Susie Ochs comments: "I was
impressed with the responsiveness of iOS 9 on this tablet, as I easily pulled
out the sidebar and entered Split Screen view."
iPad Pro new features: Speakers
As mentioned
in the design section, the iPad Pro features four speakers rather than the twin
speakers in the iPad Air 2. We're really pleased to hear this - a
quad-speaker design is a long-time wish for iPad owners, given their devices'
traditional weakness in terms of audio - but we'll obviously have to test
it out. Watch this space.
The iPad Air 2's
twin speakers, at the bottom of the device. They're so close together that you
gain little benefit from there being two
The speakers on the
iPad Pro aren't just more numerous; the overall design has been enhanced
too. A new casing design gives the Pro's speakers a wider frequency range
and up to 3x more acoustic output than previous iPad models.
iPad Pro new features: Power efficiency
While it can't
boast a superior battery life to previous iPad models (as we'll discuss in the
specs section), the fact that the iPad Pro is at least able to match the
figures of smaller-screen predecessors appears to be down to some small
improvements to the way it powers the screen. Apple says the Pro's screen
adjusts the refresh rate automatically so that it isn't using unnecessary power
when the movement on screen doesn't warrant it.
Combined with the
Low Power Mode in
iOS 9, it appears
that Apple is taking battery efficiencies seriously. Watch this space for
battery tests once we've got longer-term hands-on time with the iPad Pro, and
we'll see what real-world gains this produces.
iPad Pro review: Specs
What sort of tech
specs are we talking about for the iPad Pro? State of the art, naturally. It's
Apple's fastest ever iOS device, with a dazzling array of components.
iPad Pro specs: Processor
The iPad Pro gets
a super-powered A9X processor chip, one that Apple claims is close to
twice the speed of the iPad Air 2's A8X.
"The iPad Pro
is far and away the fastest iOS device we have ever made - its A9X chip
beats most portable PCs in both CPU and graphics tasks," said Apple
marketing boss Phil Schiller.
We'll address this
more later in this article when we ponder who the iPad Pro is for, but
it's worth mentioning briefly that this kind of power is going to be overkill
for most users, at least in the near future. Very few apps are available that
can push the iPad Pro anywhere near to its limit.
Gaming devs love to
push the fastest available processors to the edge, and games that harness the
Pro's graphical power should be along before long. And creative users
historically tend to favour more powerful machines - the Mac Pro's main
audience is among video editors and other creative-industry workers. But we
can't help feel that business users, who in other parts of the launch
presentation appeared to be one of the main target markets, may feel that
the Pro is overqualified - and consequently overpriced - for the primarily
simple tasks they need it for.
All of this will
become clearer in coming months, however. Powerful applications of iOS 9's
split-screen capabilities, for example, may demonstrate the value of
the A9X in a business setting.
iPad Pro specs: RAM
Apple never
officially discloses the RAM allocation in its mobile products, but it's
already emerged that the iPad Pro has a chunky 4GB of RAM. "iPad Pro is
great for creative workflows with a high res 12.9-inch touch screen display at
2,732 x 2,048 pixels, A9X chip, and 4GB RAM." We hope no one at Adobe got
in trouble for this slip.)
4GB is a giant set
of RAM to be able to play with (the most any other iPad has included is 2GB, in
the iPad Air 2; all other iPads have come with 1GB or less), making
multitasking a breeze and performance red-hot. We can't wait to put the iPad
Pro through Macworld's battery of lab tests, but for the time being we'll simply
have to say that it sounds fast, and we're very excited to try it.
iPad Pro specs: Storage
The iPad Pro has a
slightly unusual set of storage flavours. Whereas most recent iOS
devices have offered three configurations (16GB, 64GB and 128GB, with the
32GB inbetweener much mourned), the Wi-Fi-only version of the Pro comes with
just two: 32GB or 128GB. And if you want the cellular model then you've only
got one option: the full monty 128GB.
Nice to see the
32GB make a comeback, but it's a strangely restrictive offering.
iPad Pro specs: Cameras
The iPad Pro comes
with an 8Mp (megapixel) rear-facing iSight camera. Specs-wise it's
identical to the rear camera on the iPad Air 2, which means:
8Mp iSight camera
Autofocus
ƒ/2.4 aperture
Five-element lens
Hybrid IR filter
Backside illumination
Improved face detection
Exposure control
Panorama (up to 43Mp)
Burst mode
Tap to focus
Photo geotagging
Timer mode
Video recording
specs are also the same as for the Air 2.
1080p HD video recording (30 fps)
Slo-mo (120 fps)
Time-lapse video
Video image stabilisation
Improved face detection
3x video zoom
Video geotagging
Finally, specs for
the front-facing camera are the same too.
1.2Mp photos
ƒ/2.2 aperture
720p HD video recording
Backside illumination
Auto HDR photos and videos
Improved face detection
Burst mode
Exposure control
Timer mode
To those who are
disappointed not to see advances here to match the processor, RAM and screen,
we can only say: use the iPad Pro as a camera in public and then talk to us.
iPad Pro specs: Battery life
Apple claims the
iPad Pro will last for 10 hours (of video play or web use) between
charges; that's pretty much standard for Apple tablets, and exactly the same as
is promised for the iPad Air 2. The company is generally scrupulously honest
when stating battery life for its devices - if anything they tend to
be an underestimate - but we'll naturally put this to the test once we've got a
review sample to test in the Macworld labs.
This performance is
based on a 38.5-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, a far
larger unit that the 27.3-watt-hour battery in the Air 2.
Apple says, by the
way, that the iPad Pro saves power by automatically adjusting the screen
refresh rate depending on the amount of movement on screen - something that no
other iOS device is able to do.
